DEFENSE
The defense started slowly, but a big fourth-down stop in the red zone by Dante Fowler got the Falcons back in the game. Linebacker Deion Jones blitzed Matthew Stafford up the gut and blasted the Lions quarterback to end a promising drive in the second quarter.
Safety Keanu Neal has looked better the past two weeks. Against the Lions, Neal was all over the place, playing with speed and his trademark physicality. Rookie A.J. Terrell made a nice open field tackle of Stafford that was flagged for unnecessary roughness, aka “tackling a quarterback.”
Overall, the defense bent but didn’t break for much of the game, until the very last play. With two seconds left, the defense flushed Matt Stafford to his left where he found TE T.J. Hockenson for a game-sealing touchdown pass.